jouez

Jouez is a French verb form derived from jouer, meaning to play or to act. It functions as a conjugated form of the verb in modern French and appears in two grammatical contexts.

In the present indicative, jouez is the second-person plural form of the verb for the subject vous, as in Vous jouez du piano. It corresponds to the English “you play” when addressing more than one person or when using a formal singular subject. The same sequence of letters also serves as the imperative mood, where Jouez is used to issue a command or invitation to play, for example, Jouez bien ou Jouez maintenant.

Phonetics and usage notes: jouez is pronounced roughly /ʒwe/ in standard French. As with many French verb forms, the capitalization and punctuation distinguish uses in practice: Jouez! is typically an imperative, while vous jouez appears in declarative sentences.

Etymology: jouer stems from Old French juer, which itself comes from Latin iocare, related to iocus meaning joke or play. The related noun jeu (game) shares the same root.

See also: jouer, conjugation patterns in French, imperative mood, present indicative.